It was a two-deck turbolift ride to the bridge, so they arrived in moments. Uhura noted that the main viewscreen already displayed a long-range sensor scan of the target area, showing the mysterious display of brief, blinding pinpoint flashes spread over a wide swath of space. After a few moments, the flickers slowed and faded, but then another surge of them began in the corner of the screen, with the vantage adjusting to compensate. “It’s like a mob of old-time photographers is taking flash pictures of us,” Blake said.

“Or like a fireworks show,” Uhura said. “There’s a similar rhythm to it, bursts of high activity with rests in between.”

“Commander Uhura, do you remember the lights of Zetar?” Scott asked. “They looked a little like what’s out there.”

“The entities that attacked Memory Alpha back in the late sixties?” Blake asked.

“Yes, Captain,” Uhura said as she relieved the officer at the science station. “But they weren’t quite like this. Not as widespread or blinding, and persistent rather than intermittent. And their effects were neurological, not EM or gravimetric.”

“So don’t judge a storm by its flicker,” Blake said. “That covers what it isn’t. George,” she said to Chung at the helm, “bring us in closer so we can try to narrow down what it is.”

“Ah, Captain,” Chung advised, “the way the flare-ups are jumping around unpredictably, I’m not sure how close we can safely come.”

“Feliki,” Blake told the Ithenite navigator, “plot their positions up to now and draw up a probability curve. George, stay outside the three-sigma line.” Both officers acknowledged her order. Uhura found her reasoning sound; the probability of an outburst forming more than three standard deviations from the mean position would be less than one percent.

“Preliminary readings track with Reliant’s,” Uhura reported. “Signatures consistent with microscopic quantum wormholes produced by anomalous spikes of vacuum energy. Except…”

“Commander?” Blake asked.

“The data from Deneva show that the outburst began three hours ago. The previous vacuum flares had begun to subside by then. This one is persisting—no, more than that. It’s still expanding!”

Blake turned to the helm. “George, slow us down. How close are those other two ships to three-sigma?”

“T’Viri is well clear,” Chung reported. “Meitner is cutting it close, but it should be— No, belay that! Her shields just went up.”

Uhura could only watch with concern as a new surge of actinic pinpoints began to form directly in Meitner’s path. The small science vessel attempted evasive maneuvers, but not soon enough; it passed through the outer fringe of the still-expanding field of micro-wormhole bursts. The ship’s momentum carried it beyond them soon enough, but its running lights guttered and its nacelle heat sinks began to dim.

“Distress signal coming in,” Tarha said a moment later.

“On audio,” Blake ordered.